Ding!

You have created:

Health Potion

(Common) (Beginner)

Type> Consumable> Potion

Restore 5% of Vitality over 60 seconds.

Ding!

Title earned! Foundational Potioneer.

(Common) You have gained the most basic understanding in the path of the Alchemist.

All concoctions are slightly more effective.

Ding!

Experience earned!

You have increased your level!

Current Level: 27

Stat Points allocated

+6 Free Points

I added it to the growing pile in my ring. It had been four days since I arrived at the estate, and with my Meditation, nearly fifty days had passed from my perspective.

Not being able to craft in the Library yet, I spent each of the ten-hour shifts testing what I had learned from going to the Hall of Memories to review my mistakes and rereading the books. This cycle continued until I had succeeded in brewing my first Potion. That had been the second day.

I had tried other recipes for my level of skill and had succeeded on both Stamina and Mana potions, but I still failed when it came to a simple tonic of Cure Disease, one of the simplest recipes. This is why I went back to crafting a stockpile of potions, giving myself a chance to revel in my success.

"It's about time to get going, ten hours is up. I'm about halfway through the collection and I found something interesting you might be able to put to use. I'll see you in your room when you get here. We should also take some time to go through your build. You should assign those Free Points before you step foot in any dungeon." Mel said before I felt her attention shift away from me.

Standing up, I pressed the red button on the table, walking over to the door I opened it to find a petite young woman with bloodred hair that fell behind two tapered ears, with skin darker than my own. This was the Elf girl named Trucia.

Over the last few days, I had met most of the staff. There were two humans: Lenox and Iyema, the butler and head maid. Trucia and Melenit; the two Elves. I had met two out of the three Dwarves who worked in the kitchen, but they refused to speak with anybody, so I never learned their names. Then there was only one of the Beastfolk that I had seen. Barnegat, a Bearfolk, was the groundskeeper and stable hand. Though he had told me about a Wolfkin Trensana, that tended to the dungeons when they were occupied.

Trucia bowed as I opened the door.

"Please ask the kitchen to prepare something, I will be up shortly." She nodded her head, still bent over at her waist, then ducked out of view.

Walking over, I packed up my things and cleared my workspace, before setting off for the dining room.

The dining hall was located in the wing opposite the library. Two chandeliers hung over an ornately decorated, fifteen-foot-long table draped in white lace. It was presumably for hosting dinner parties, but it was comical thinking about how I looked eating alone at such a large table.

Sitting at one end, Trucia entered the side door to the kitchen and brought a tray with my meal on it, setting it down in front of me. I thanked her and was about to dig into the delicious-smelling stew when I noticed she hadn't left like she normally did after dropping it off.

"Something on your mind Trucia?" I asked, setting down my utensils and covering the bowl back up.

She trembled slightly before bursting into tears and dropping to the ground genuflecting at my feet. "Please I beg your forgiveness, Lord. I take responsibility for my brother's action, please be merciful."

I felt Mel pop into my mind as her interest was piqued.

"I'm going to be honest, I have no idea who your brother is or why you're apologizing," I said, very confused at the situation. "Please rise, and take a seat with me. You can explain while I eat."

"Th...thank you, young Lord. I will refrain from taking a seat if you permit it."

Waving for her to stand, I went back to my food, I was still on a schedule after all.

"As I have said numerous times, Typhen is fine, please tell me what this is about."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"My family lives in the village past the forest where you were stopped. When I visited yesterday, my mother told me of your encounter, and my brother's involvement. I beg that you do not punish him, he only wishes to protect the citizens of the village which is why he joined the Farmers Protection Guild. I'm sure he meant no offense." She bowed again, which was starting to make me realize just how much I had bowed to the nobles that my clan served.

"Have you spoken with your brother, or asked what the agreement we came to was?"

"No, young Lord. They aren't revealing anything to anybody other than the village leaders, the only thing my brother said to my mother before he left to clear out a horde, was that they stopped your carriage and held you until you complied with their demands."

I laughed which caught Trucia off guard, making her jump. "Is that what he said? Let me ask you this, is he a Beginner or a high Novice?"

"B...Beginner, almost Novice, my Lord."

So it was the younger one then and not Erabol.

"Be at ease Trucia, I have made arrangements with the village elders and the Farmers Protection Guild to take care of the dungeons regularly, starting in three months. Until then, Master Osiph has already met with the Duke to patrol the surrounding area to keep it clear of creatures." I said, putting on what I hoped was a comforting smile.

"Thank you, my Lord, if there is any way I can repay you, please do not hesitate."

"There is no need to worry yourself. If there is nothing else, I should finish eating before I return to my training."

"Of course, my lord." She bowed deeply once more before exiting towards the kitchen, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

The rumors were annoying, but they ultimately didn't mean anything, in less than a decade I wouldn't even be on this planet anymore.

Finding myself down in the Enchanting Facility after my meal, I sat down in a comfortable position and entered meditation.

"That was quite something." Mel greeted me as I appeared in my room. She sat next to me on my bed. "And yes, you were almost that bad with the nobles of your clan."

"I was never that bad." I retorted.

"Would you like to go to the Hall to see for yourself?"

"No." I acquiesced, quickly changing the subject. "You said you have something to show me."

Mel soaked in her victory for a moment before responding. "Yes, I found something in the books I've finished indexing. There is a passage in one of the local law books, that has a clause for honorary Nobles such as the old man and yourself."

"What is it?"

"The Dukedoms own much of the continent but there is auxiliary land with scattered villages and small settlements. So the land given to Osiph wasn't just the land the house sits on, it actually encompasses one of these auxiliary lands, by default, giving him ownership to an extent of the land for a little less than a few hundred miles across."

"Ok, so what does that mean? Osiph is now the ruler of the villages and towns around here? I can't see him wanting to take action in the lives of the everyman."

"No, most likely not. There is, however, a subsection that states; that resources located within the territory are the claim of the owner, including dungeons and their Cores. I'm getting to that, be patient. No, it's not annoying when I read your mind, it's efficient and saves time." She chided. "Anyway, this information by itself is fine but I was looking in one of the books we picked out for dungeon exploration and commonly found resources on this continent. That's when I found a passage talking about harvesting the dungeon core and transplanting it. No one really does it anymore though, it referenced the last practice being several decades ago, but that's mainly because the people who have the power to cleanse it often don't have the authority to and vice versa."

"So we own the dungeons and can transplant them anywhere on our land. Basically, a private training dungeon? It does sound useful, but not without its issues. First, we won't be here in three months, so it wouldn't be getting cleared out, and would just start causing the same problems, just here instead. Admittedly, this isn't that bad since I would be removing it from the area of all those people." I thought out loud, mainly just thinking through all the possible problems and solutions. "Next, it would only be useful to me until I hit Journeyman. After that, I wouldn't gain much experience from it unless we found a way to speed up its progress to upgrading again. Finally, I don't know if I want to make enemies of the Dukedom. If they now plan on using it as a training ground, and I just came and swooped it up, I don't think they would be very happy about that."

"All valid points, would you at least take one of the Novice dungeon Cores? I estimate that by the time you finish clearing two of them, you will be Novice and will be able to bring one into the Library to study. At the very least, we may learn something useful."

"I don't see a problem with that. I will ask Osiph if he can see any problems with deactivating one of the smaller Cores and taking it."

"Alright, that's enough work, let's have some fun; build options," Mel said while rubbing her hands together.

"I already know what I want; every ten Free Points get alternated between Agility, Dexterity, and Strength. Whatever remainder will get placed amongst the others, also in an alternating pattern, to keep things at least somewhat balanced."

"I don't know if I agree with that type of build. You would have to keep your Perception up with your Agility and Dexterity in order to process what to react to and to keep up with moving at heightened speeds. I think keeping your entire Stat list balanced is the way to go, even if you want to add more into the others, here and there to keep them slightly higher."

"That's a fair point on Perception. I read somewhere that some think it's the best Stat. But if you are fast enough, nothing can hit you."

"That's just not true, you can be caught unaware just as much as anyone else. It only takes one opponent that has maxed out their Strength and Agility to get some good hits in, and I don't wanna die because you couldn't take a beating."

"What do you mean, die?" I asked.

"If you die, then so do I. That is why I was so picky, I needed someone that would at least live long enough for me to experience the universe, and I had a good feeling you would be able to provide that."

"I'm sorry Mel, I hadn't even thought about that. I just kinda figured you would go back to Osiph."

"Nope. I was created in the old man's Library, but once I left my original vessel and bonded with a host, that's it. No redo's."

After a few moments of looking at the far wall, I turned to her. "Whatever you think is best."

I distributed my unspent Free Points, avoiding Intelligence as it would keep growing on its own.

"Just like that?" Mel asked, surprised. "I was sure you were going to require a long speech about the benefits of a well-rounded build."

"Har, har," I responded, deadpan. Looking back towards the distance, I said, "If it's not just my life in here at stake, I think you deserve to have input and be heard. I may have made my peace with dying, but I don't want to, and I don't want to take you down with me. Besides, who in their right mind would bond to a sentient Library and not take her advice?"

Mel giggled, as I looked back. "I guess I don't know you as well as I thought, I for sure thought you were going to be extremely stubborn about this."

She knocked her shoulder into mine.

"I better get started, I have some Enchanting to do in a week and I need to make some progress before I can move on to exploring the Abilities that I didn't want to test in the middle of the ocean," I said, standing and heading out of my room.